Saturday, March 29, 2008

New Google China Homepage

Google China has a new homepage, as the screenshot illustrates, showing more discoverable icons similar to other Google homepages in Asia. However, I don’t know if this new one is the default for Chinese users at google.cn (where I don’t see it), or if Chinese users need to visit google.cn/webhp?hl=zh-CN (where it seems to be active all around the world). An official Chinese Google blog post seems to suggest it’s live for all in China... can anyone from China confirm either way?

The new iconized sections read 视频, 图片, 资讯, 地图, 博客搜索, 热榜 and 网站导航, pointing to* Google Video, Images, News, Maps, Blog Search, Google Rebang (a kind of Chinese Google Zeitgeist), and Google Daohang (a kind of navigator/ site map for the web... simpler than DMOZ but more complex than bookmarks, as Hong Xiaowan of the Chinese Google Blogoscoped once put it).

[Hat tip to Hebbet, Zorgloob and Haochi!]

*Links to these services all open in a new window.

Update: According to the comments by Hong Xiaowan and John, this is indeed default in China now. (Also, as before, google.com automatically redirects to google.cn.) Xiaowan calls the new design “funny, but a little complex,” adding that he likes “simple Google.” [Thanks Xiaowan and John!]

New Google China Homepage by Philipp Lenssen | Comments (2+17)

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